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Daily Archives: July 21, 2009

Josh Pressley and teammates celebrate a grand slam last season. Such moments have become less frequent this season.

By RYAN DUNLEAVY
STAFF WRITERBRIDGEWATER – As he and his teammates used their bats to mock the dimensions of Atlantic League ballparks last season, Josh Pressley faced daily inquisitions about home run hitting.

Pressley recently found himself back in that position, only the questions came from a new angle.

Where have all the Somerset Patriots’ home runs gone?

“Who cares?” Pressley said. “We’re winning baseball games and that’s all that matters. That shows a lot because it means nobody is pressing.”

Pressing? No. Noticing? Yes.

“We’re way down,” manager Sparky Lyle said. “I’m not going to say it’s puzzling, though, for no other reason than we’re not hitting that well as a team. I think the home runs will come when we start hitting better.”

After seven full-season regulars re-signed from the team that obliterated the franchise’s single-season record, outfield billboards again were expected to be battered.

Instead the league’s reigning home run kings entered Monday night’s game against the Newark Bears at TD Bank Ballpark ranking fifth of eight teams with 55 home runs, and needed 80 games to have a player crack double digits.

Only two teams’ home run leaders have less than Pressley (10), and the Patriots recently went a season-high eight games – July 4-13 – without clearing the fences.

“It’s kind of the opposite extreme,” center fielder Sean Smith said. “I think most of us are used to having a few more home runs at this point, but we’re showing other people and ourselves that we can score runs without the long ball. Our record is still good because we’re finding other ways.”

Among the returnees only Travis Anderson and Teuris Olivares are on pace to eclipse last season’s totals, and neither of them reached double figures.

Pressley (30), Matt Hagen (17) and Smith (15) were among the top sluggers but that trio has combined for just 19 thus far. Jason Belcher (9) and Elliott Ayala (5) also figure to see a drop in their respective totals.

The retirement of Brandon Larson (30) took away a huge chunk of last season’s 174 home runs, but the return of Jeff Nettles, who played for the Patriots from 2003-07, was expected to fill that void.

Yet even the third-most prolific home run hitter in league history is mired in a power outage. Nettles appears headed to his first sub-20 home run season since 2003.

“Last year we were gap-to-gap hitters who happened to be hitting home runs,” Hagen said. “This year we’re gap-to-gap hitters who are hitting like gap-to-gap hitters. But if you had told me before the season what our team leader would have at this point, I would’ve bet in the opposite direction. Maybe we’re all saving up.”

The absence of the quick-strike offensive weapon has not detracted from performance.

The Patriots, who are first in stolen bases and second in doubles, are scoring slightly more runs per game than last season (up from 5.46 to 5.75) and have five more wins through the first 80 games.

If anything, the drastic reversal has validated last season’s most common answer, which described home runs as “fool’s gold” and not an accurate correlation with championship success.

That a large sampling of players is simultaneously enduring a power slump is strange, though both Hagen and Pressley offer external factors such as an atypically cold and rainy spring as possible explanations.

“I’d like to see us hit more,” Lyle said, “but I don’t want to see us start trying to hit home runs. That’s when you start popping up to the infield.”

Nageotte signs

The Patriots signed former major-league pitcher Clint Nageotte prior to Monday’s game. Nageotte played for the Long Island Ducks last season.